To put it simply i want to write a short story in a H.P. Lovecraft type style based in the city of Seoul, South Korea. I am currently living in the city so writing about it is not an issue but I have no idea where to put the damn monsters.

I know how i want them to look. I know what kind of nasty things they do to people. I have them pretty much fleshed out.

And I don't have a damn place to put the buggers.

Seoul is the second largest city in the world next to Tokyo but as far as i know there is nothing like Undertown here. There are the subway tunnels but they are all pretty new and well maintained. The sewer system is also very modern. There are tunnels, mostly dug by people fleeing North Korea, but they are found quickly and either sealed or collapsed quickly.

The problem is putting underground system that normal people couldn't find easily but could still access quickly within the city if they knew where it was. And as far as i know Korea is very efficient in keeping track of their underground in Seoul.

So I have been getting really into the Cosmic Horror genre and reading a lot of Cthulhu related materiel like "Batman: The Doom that came to Gotham" and "Fall of Cthulhu" and I have really enjoyed how truly gruesome they are. So much so that I though I might try my hand at it myself.

However I wanted to through in my own Eldridge Abomination who is actually on humanities side in all of the nastiness that's coming. The story will still be visceral and horrifying but I like some hope in my creations. The creature will still shatter the sanity of a mere mortal who looks gets to close to the truth but its not intentional.

The main reason I wanted to do this is two fold. One because I am weird and find things like Cthulhu and the Deepones to look awesome and feel that good guys should be able to have claws, maws and tentacles too. Two, not all things that are good are beautiful and not all thing that are evil are ugly. In the bible Lucifer was the most beautiful angel in all of creation, while some of the other kinds of angels were terrible to behold (one type was a mass of wings, eyes and fire and another had three heads a lion, bull and eagle and also lots of fire.)

What are your thoughts?

I had an idea to try and mix up my world a little bit and was wondering if it was actually a good idea or if its dumb.

In my story I have cultures and landscapes some what reversed. The colder climates and more barbaric lands are in the southern part of the contentment and the hot desserts and tropical areas are in the north.

I had never seen this done in a story before so I thought it would be interesting to try it out, what do you think?

Wow I have not been here in a while, glad to see its all working again.

So I am finally in a situation in my life where I can be comfortable putting more focus on my writing. I started work on a short story that has been kicking around in my head for years.

Back in collage me and my friends would often discuss how we would take over the world and rule it, as one does. For some reason mine was often the favored concept though it was the least realistic. Over time this idea has developed and mutated into what I would call and interesting story idea.

Basically, without giving any details away, the story is about the fall of the old world to something new starting out with America and eventually spreading across the world. An invading force of superior technology and devotion declares a war of conquest on the whole of the world, and is winning. The story will be some what similar to World War Z in how it was narrated. It will be divided up into sections from different peoples point of view through the conquest. The view points will be from both sides of the conflict, and there will also be parts that are suppose to be journal entries of the commander of the invading force.

Now so things I want to get out of the way. The invading force is not alien in nature though it surpasses the vast majority of the earth forces. This is not a war of annihilation but of mental conquest. The invading force is doing a lot of undermine the integrity of its enemies so that its citizens willingly join their cause. As such the invaders use a lot of fear tactics and maneuvers that are devastating but cause almost no collateral damage.

The forces of this invasion are fanatically loyal to their cause and very very well trained.

If you have any questions, comments or critiques pleas post them below.

Good to be back.

One of the things that I love about Jim's writing is that he creates very colorful language for his characters that one does not see in the real world, especially with oaths, curses, and so one.

Known DV curses: Stars and Stones, Hells Bells (is a real saying but rarely used where I live), Empty Night.
Known CA curses: Anything involving Crows.

I was wondering if any of you have come up with your own unique curses or caloqeal terms, and if you have what process's did you use to come up with them.

So far I have for my SciFi novel: Stone Hearted as a term of praise, Soft Soul  as a insult
Fantasy Novel: still working on it.

Since zombies and vampires have been such huge hits in the media as of late I thought I would ask everyone what kind of undead critters they are putting in their stories if any. The more unique the better.

I'll start things off. My undead are separated into three categories, those created by a Necromancer or mage (zombies, skeletons, mummies and a few other creatures that are more bizarre. Then there are the "natural" undead which are primarily the many flavors of ghosts and spirits. created undead for the most part are soulless husks with no will of their own so there is no real moral issue in creating them though many think its evil. Natural undead are fragments of a dead persons soul and thus have some will, evil necromancers will enslave them for their nefarious purposes while good ones will make a bond with them. Evil necromancers tend to have more slaves but they are also weaker, good necromancers have fewer undead to command but they are stronger.  The last group are the divinely created, these are made only when a god steps in and turns a mortal into an undead minion these are Lichs or Deathknights depending on which god creates them (only two gods have created such beings). These beings are not true undead but living beings who exists simultaneously in the mortal and spirit world making them very very very powerful.

all undead can be modified by a strong enough mage, usually a necromancer, enhancing them with spells and other nasty surprises depending on what task they were created for.

I'm currently writing a scifi novel where humans make their first contact with an alien civilization my main character volunteers to be on of the citizen ambassadors for earth but i have found myself rambling on and on about his crappy normal day to day life and can't figure out how to have the aliens make contact with him so that its believable.

In my first draft i had one show up at his door step, i also had an idea of having them send a transmission through his computer of television. but I'm just stuck in a rut now.

Not sure if this is the write place for this since it doesn't pertain solely to writing.

I have been devoted to scifi and fantasy since I learned how to read, and probably even before then, thank you Saturday morning cartoons. However there are always aspects of this genera in its many medias that bugs the crap out of me.

One of the biggest for me is the portrayal of good and evil. In most fantasy media there are always those certain races or types of magic that are always evil incarnate and no self respecting person would ever even consider associating with them. The first that come to mind are Orc's and Necromancy. Now orcs can be interchanged with any "barbaric" race but the principle is the same. In a lot of fantasy settings, orcs are nothing but raping, murdering thieves and raiders with few to no redeeming qualities. However this would also make most ancient European civilizations evil including the Romans and Spartans who's entire culture was centered around making war and concurring and enslaving others.

Necromancy also irks me when its said to be only evil and no good can come of it. Mostly this is because I do not view Death as an evil thing but simply the natural ending of things, its not good or evil it just is. Maybe it's just me but I could see a lot of really useful and benevolent uses for death magic. Being able to pull poison of disease from the blood, or remove necrotic infections without killing the patient, communing with a murder victim's ghost to help find their killer and bring them to justice, heck even in the Dresden files it was used to keep someone from dying before they could receive medical aid. Grated the person that did that was kind of a nutter but the principle still stands. As for making Zombies and the like I personally see no problem with it depending on the circumstances. Raising an army of the undead to go slaughter people is usually bad, raising them to help build an orphanage not so much. As for it being used to kill people, well duh its death magic, but any magic can be used to kill a person even "white" magic, heal someone to much and you could give them cancer or you could just keep bringing them back over and over to keep torturing them because your a sadistic dick.

any way these are just a few of the Stereotypes that bug me, does any one else have particular stereotype or archetype that just rubs them the wrong way. Pleas share what it is and why you dislike it.

I encourage healthy debate if your opinion differs from others but keep it civil and educated. No whining, or bitching or starting a flame war. Thank you